HKU Centre for Civil Society and Governance to release second Annual Report on Civil Society in Hong Kong - Natural and Built Environment Conservation Sector

27 Jan 2012

HKU's Department of Politics and Public Administration and Centre for Civil Society and Governance will release its second Annual Report on Civil Society in Hong Kong: "An outdated government consultative system misses voices from active conservation advocates" on January 31 (Tuesday).

The conservation sector has grown in numbers in recent years. The study covers a wide range of conservation groups in Hong Kong concerning pollution control, energy conservation, animal protection, heritage conservation and green life promotions, and seeks to understand their mode of operations and relations with the government, businesses and peer groups.

It is found that conservation groups in Hong Kong are active in policy advocacy having diverse views on their roles and positioning in conservation. However, despite the great in number and diversity of these groups, most of the appointees into the conservation-related government committees are only from a handful of groups, most of them older ones established in the 1990s or before, which suggests that the government's consultative system on conservation policies may be outdated.

Professor Joseph Chan, Head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration and Dr. Eliza Lee, Director of Centre for Civil Society and Governance will meet the media on the findings. Details of the press conference are as follows: